1. They aren't just looking for raw coding skills, but communication, collaboration, improvement, etc....
2. The fact that you care so much means you probably prepared a lot more for the 2nd one and are/will show great improvement.
3. If you get anxious or freeze up, take a deep breathe and focus on clear communication.
4. If you get nervous, or are worried about panicking in the interview, PRACTICE A PROBLEM SOLVING METHOD and stick to it. BIAS, THIS IS MY COMPANY: this problem solving method can be used to solve any problem, helps people pass Google interviews without doing my LeetCode. It's more complicated than it seems to get good at this under pressure, but check it out: [https://formation.dev/blog/the-engineering-method/](https://formation.dev/blog/the-engineering-method/)
5. Most of the interviews are friendly and collaborative, but don't be TOO friendly, you want to balance demonstating of skill and potential with also being friendly and collaborative, but you don't want to just be best friends with the interviewer when you get stuck - it's not a learning session for you.
6. Most people fail on the first one! You used to have to wait a lot longer before doing the 2nd one but because of lower enrollment and pressure on admissions, they are interviewing people much faster. So if you feel pressure to do the 2nd one too soon, just wait until you feel ready (but don't wait too long because you'll never be 100% ready)
u/ft_renny wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
They are looking for you to solve 8-10 problems in the time. Atleast finish a recursion and ideally to closure to guarantee an acceptance. Codesmith isn’t the end all be all of programs. as an alum, IMO program has gone downhill and I personally wouldn’t recommend it compared to
u/michaelnovatireplied·
Can you elaborate on what went downhill in your opinion? I haven't heard as much about the quality getting worse but rather the outcomes being worse because of the market. The quality was never super amazing, it's fairly rushed and the projects were always not that great.
u/ft_renny wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Quality as in the instructors and selection of the fellows. Instructional material is a simple 6 week intro to FE focused material w slight emphasis on BE so graduates can say they’re full stack.
u/michaelnovatireplied·
Do you think it actually got worse though? Or is was it lower than your own expectations and you perceived it as gotten worse?
u/smells_serious wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
It's a prepared slide deck given to fellows, mentors and instructors to memorize and deliver. Ask questions outside of that? Lol. The rest of it is just toxic positivity and a narrative that anyone that manages to finish the program is fit for mid to senior level roles... Which i
u/michaelnovatireplied·★ FEATURED
Can you elaborate more on what toxic positivity means to you there? I hear it a lot and have numerous examples myself but I'm curious what examples you see that way.
Like I've seen both dismissive and ignoring of criticism but also covering it up by asking people to remove posts or tracking people down who have NDAs or gag agreements and asking them to remove stuff.